Isaiah 37:3Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Hezekiah spoke in his time of distress, declaring, "Lord, remember that I walked faithfully before Your presence" (Isaiah 38:3). At that moment, he did not refer to his virtuous life or the wealth of his good deeds; instead, he focused solely on his profound anguish. He lamented, not merely due to the siege of the city, but because the heathens equated the Lord with false gods, doubting His strength. This moment was filled with sorrow and humiliation, for the newborns had come to the brink of birth, yet there was no power to bring them forth. The sorrow was compounded as the hour for delivery arrived; the child remained unbirthed, and the attempts to hasten the process proved futile. He also pleaded for the removal of his afflictions.

The monarch instructed the high-ranking priests, adorned in the most esteemed honors according to religious law, to approach the revered prophet Isaiah clothed not in sacred attire or garments suited for public service, but rather in tattered and sorrowful rags, to inform him that a time of distress and disgrace had fallen upon them. It was as though he conveyed that God was revealing the shame of the inhabitants of the holy city due to their failure to uphold the justice mandated by the law, chastising those who had transgressed and bringing upon them the repercussions of divine wrath. They acknowledged that their situation had deteriorated to the extent that Israel resembled a woman in labor, enduring severe anguish due to her fruitlessness.